The racism is
real enough and Bush’s war on drugs is well documented. The case in this film
is real or at least “based on a true story”. We know things like this happen all the time.

Dee Roberts, a
young divorcee with four small daughters, is caught up in a drug raid of white
policemen against a working class black neighbourhood in a small town in
Texas.Raids like this are happening all
over the country in Bush’s USA.95% of
cases like this end up with the accused taking “plea bargains” which means that
they plead guilty, whether guilty or not, to get a shorter sentence.Dee refuses and is chosen by the ACLU to sue
the main villain in the case, the district attorney who is infamous for his
racism and hard line militancy in the war against drugs.

We follow the
domestic complications, the drama, the reasoning of the white men who have
pledged themselves to changing the system.

In many ways it
is a formula film of American justice winning in the end against American
racism and sexism and corruption, proving that the system is basically good
after all because the feisty sexy good looking young woman stands up against
impossible odds. Like Norma Rae and Erin Brockovich.Like these two films, this one is often too
Hollywood pretty to be believable.

But it’s well
acted and dramatic.And just as I’m
wondering about all the individuals who don’t win, the film ends with: “The
United States has the world’s largest prison population. Of the 2.3 million
people currently in prison, more than 90% accepted plea bargains.”